Charlie Cook's MArketing for Success Insider's Club

Archive for January, 2006

Where Can I Find Out About Small Business Marketing?

By Charlie Cook   |   January 31, 2006

Every day I get dozens of questions about small business marketing. In order to answer these I’ve set up part of my site to give answers to common small business marketing questions. Here are the links:

Index of Small Business Marketing Questions and Answers

and pages each with dozens of small business marketing answers.

How to Write Your Marketing Plan

How to Get More Attention

How to Generate More Leads

How to Increase Sales

How to Sell More Online

Free Marketing Ideas and Answers

You’ll find hundreds of small business marketing tips to help you grow your business.
– Charlie Cook

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6 Things to Do In 2006 To Grow Your Small Business and Improve Your Marketing

By Charlie Cook   |   January 2, 2006

HERE ARE SIX THINGS TO DO IN 2006 TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL

1. Hire someone to do all the stuff you spend time on that keeps you from having enough time to work on improving your marketing. I use a bevy of Virtual Assistants, web designers and programmers to sort email, submit articles, build web pages and f.ree up my time to develop products and improve my own marketing.

When you stop doing mundane time consuming tasks you’ll have more time for the fun and more rewarding ones. I’ve found some great virtual assistants with these resources.

International Association of Virtual Office Assistants
http://www.iavoa.com

The Virtual Business Group
http://www.virtualbizgroup.com

Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection
http://www.cvac.ca/

2. Listen to Your Prospects and Clients
Each time a prospect or client asks a question, write it down. Review these each week for new product ideas and for informational reports you could provide for free. You can use each client encounter to get ideas on how to even better serve your clients. Use these ideas and your clients will love you and your products and services.

3. Develop New Products by Thinking Outside of the Box
Set aside 10-20% of your time to develop new product and marketing ideas. Identify a problem your clients have and solve it with your products and services. When you do, even more clients will seek you out and you’ll sell more to existing clients. Need help thinking outside of the box? Here are some of my favorite books and sites.

How Customers Think: Essential insights into the mind of the market – Gerald Zlatman

Thinkertoys (A handbook of business creativity) – Michael Michalko

A Whack on the Side of the Head- How you can be more creative – Roger Von Oech

Weird Ideas that Work: 11 1/2 practices for Promoting, Managing and Sustaining Innovation – Robert Sutton

Why Didn’t I Think Of That? Think the unthinkable and achieve creative genius – Charles W. McCoy Jr.

Bill Myers Product Development Resource Center
http://www.bmyers.com/

4. Use Tracking Links to Test Every Variable of Your Marketing
When you make a change to your web site test everything from the words to the background color to where you put pictures on the page to find out whether it reduces or increases response. Using the test results you’ll know what works and what doesn’t.

My favorite testing tool is the ad tracker feature that comes with my shopping/ecommerce software.
https://www.marketingforsuccess.com/shopping.html

5. Get The Small Business Marketing Tools and Resources You Need to Succeed

Small Business Marketing Gold Special

Your Web Site Marketing Road Map

Your Marketing Plan

Your Marketing Message

A Marketing Mentor

6. Work Less and Earn More
Go away more often with your family and/or friends. Every time I take a couple of days off I come back with new ideas for growing my business and with a clear head get twice the work done in half the time. I use an automated online delivery system so I make just as much from product sales when I’m away anyways. You can too.
https://www.marketingforsuccess.com/shopping.html

Best Wishes for a Prosperous 2006,

Charlie Cook
Marketing For Success
www.marketingforsuccess.com
3 West End Avenue
Old Greenwich, CT 06870

/ Helping you get a better response, more clients
and more sales with your small business marketing //

Copyright 2006 by Charlie Cook of Marketing For Success
and In Mind Communications, LLC

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